


Return of the Creature From the Tank in the Back of the Lab

by elfin (crazylittleelf)



Series: The Creature [2]
Category: Fringe
Genre: F/M, Other, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-18
Updated: 2011-10-18
Packaged: 2017-10-24 18:54:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/266734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazylittleelf/pseuds/elfin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter introduces his unusual friend to Olivia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Return of the Creature From the Tank in the Back of the Lab

**Author's Note:**

> Tentacle porn. Yup. Sequel to [this](http://elfin.dreamwidth.org/794367.html). _This fic contains graphic, consensual sexual content between humans and a non-human, and also recreational drug use._ Thanks to [](http://chichuri.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**chichuri**](http://chichuri.dreamwidth.org/) for beta reading this. Any and all remaining mistakes are my own.

The lab was uncharacteristically quiet for a Tuesday morning. They were enjoying a lull between cases, a quiet between storms, and Olivia was more than willing to take it at face value. It gave all of them a chance to catch their breath and get caught up on the tasks that fell to the wayside while they were saving the world.

Like paperwork.

Olivia pushed away from her desk, aiming a glare at the mountains of forms and files that littered the surface. She leaned back in her chair, arching into a stretch that made her wince. Her neck popped softly when she let her head loll against the back of the chair. She listened to the familiar sounds of the lab - the faint hum of lights and electronics, music she didn't recognize, Peter swearing at something. Her lips twitched into a smile and she rose, wandered out of the back office.

He was kneeling in front of the aquarium that held the squid-thing they'd rescued a few months ago, siphoning water from the aquarium to a big plastic storage container. Water dripped from his hair and the left side of his shirt and jeans were soaked, clinging to his skin. She leaned against a counter and watched him for a moment.

"Why are you doing this again?"

"The lab's crowded enough," he said, not looking at her. "There isn't really room for a bigger tank, especially given the sort of filtration system it needs. It'll just be easier to put a tank in the basement. It's not like we're using it for anything else since it's unfinished. Walter won't even go down there."

"Yeah, but..." She trailed off and watched the creature swim in agitated circles around the tank. Its normally pale skin was mottled with black stripes that shifted as it moved, flashing intricate patterns over its body. Occasionally it darted at the end of the hose, tentacles splayed. It was getting pretty big for the aquarium it was in, having more than doubled from the basketball-sized thing they rescued from the make-shift genetic lab they'd raided.

Peter glanced into the tank. "Knock it off."

It retreated to the back of the tank, hiding behind a section of PVC pipe. Olivia thought it looked like it was sulking.

"I mean, why this one, of all the things we've brought to the lab?"

Peter lowered his head, but she could still see his cheeks flush and her frown deepened at the reaction. "It just seems like it shouldn't be here."

*****

Peter slid a sandwich and a bag of potato chips onto her desk and dropped into the chair opposite her. She gave him a quick grin and pulled the plate towards her with one finger.

"Thanks."

He rested his hands on his stomach, fingers laced together, and grinned at her. "Someone's gotta take care of you."

She wrinkled her nose. "You know, I did manage to survive quite well on my own before you came along."

His grin widened. "That's a lie and you know it, sweetheart."

She threw a potato chip at his head. "So how's the sharktopus or whatever it is?" she asked between bites.

Peter snorted. "It's fine. I was sort of worried that it was going be stressed by the move and get sick or something, but it seems to be settling into the tank pretty well. I probably should have cycled the water a little more to balance the nitrate and pH levels before I introduced it, but I think it's going to be okay. It's been eating really well, anyway, and it doesn't seem like it's too stressed out."

Olivia raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't know you were so into aquariums. Let me guess, you worked in a pet shop for 6 months?"

He gave her that cagey smile and shook his head. "Nope. I've just done a lot of research on it. It's kind of fun."

"Everyone needs a hobby, I guess." She licked mustard off the side of her thumb and smirked as Peter's eyes tracked the movement.

"You should come by and see it tonight."

"Your sharktopus?"

He dragged his eyes back up to hers and she grinned at his expression, pupils blown, lips parted.

A crash from the lab startled them both and Peter rolled his eyes. He pointed to the remaining half of her sandwich. "Finish that."

"Yes, mom."

*****

Olivia ducked her head to avoid the low ceiling as she started down the stairs to the basement.

The aquarium was huge, taking up nearly the length of one wall. A few smaller tanks were set up at one end, PVC pipes connecting them together in what Olivia guessed was the filtration system. It looked complicated. There was a desk and futon at one end of the room, a cozy little area that made her wonder how much time Peter had been spending there.

"It's like SeaWorld down here."

Peter looked over his shoulder at her. He was crouched in front of one of the smaller tanks. He smiled and pushed himself upright, stretching his back as he crossed the room. "Yeah, it's not a bad setup."

"Peter, how much did this cost?"

The shrug was evasive. "I built most of it myself - the pump and filter and all that. The acrylic is the only thing that was really bad because it had to be so thick to hold up to the pressure of that much water, but I know a guy so I got it for pretty cheap."

Olivia peered into the tank, trying to spot the creature among the rocks. "You know a guy for aquarium acrylic? Really?"

He shrugged again. "It's behind the blue rock. Back there."

She tilted her head and caught a glimpse of movement.

"It's still getting used to the new tank. I think this much space kind of freaks it out. It's only ever been in tanks that were way too small for it." Peter reached up and splashed his fingers lightly on the surface of the water.

It changed color as it crossed the tank, shifting from almost black to stunning blue by the time it reached Peter's hand. It pushed under his fingers like a cat.

"You can pet it if you want."

"Ah." The creature turned to look at her, one bright, unblinking eye watching her intently. She took a step back. "That's okay."

He grinned. "I didn't peg you as the squeamish type." He pulled his hand out of the water and wiped it against his thigh, leaving a dark, slimy-looking stain behind.

She glared but didn't let him bait her, then turned her attention back to the tank. The creature circled in the aquarium few times before exploring among the rocks, shifting the smaller ones around with its tentacles. It was stacking rocks in little piles, adjusting them to some standard she couldn't understand, like little cairns on the sand. The color of its skin had paled to a light blue with faint green stripes that pulsed faintly. She stepped closer to the glass.

"It's beautiful."

Peter hummed in agreement and turned a lazy smile towards her. He was starting to say something when Olivia's phone rang.

She frowned at her phone, then gave Peter a little smile. "Duty calls."

"Anything you need us for?"

"Nah." She shook her head. He caught her hand before she turned towards the stairs and pulled her in for a light kiss. She stepped close to him for a moment, soaking up the heat of his touch, the faint taste of scotch on his tongue. She groaned in frustration when she pulled away.

Peter tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Call me later?"

"Sure."

She glanced at the tank again before she left. The creature was near the front of the glass now, watching them.

*****

A cold drizzle was just starting to filter down from the gray sky when Olivia climbed the front steps to the Bishops' house. The weather had taken a turn for the dreary, temperatures plummeting overnight. She usually called before coming by on a weekend, if for no other reason to save herself driving across town if they weren't there, but she had, very nearly, been in the neighborhood. And she didn't think either of them would mind, certainly not Peter. The chill in the air invited cuddling under warm blankets and she intended exactly that.

She lifted her hand to knock when Walter flung the door open, still pulling on his coat.

"Walter?"

"Oh, Agent Dunham! Are you here to go to the movie with us?"

"Peter's taking you to see a movie?" She tried to mask the disappointment in her voice.

"No. Astro is. She's picking me up. Would you like to go with us?"

Olivia shook her head slightly and smiled. "Ah... not today, Walter. Is Peter home?"

Walter made a face. "He's in the basement." The disgust in his voice made her want to laugh. Walter stepped past her when Astrid's car pulled up to the curb. "I wouldn't go down there if I were you. It's a haven for mold and other pathogens."

Astrid waved from the car.

"You should wear a respirator. There's one in the kitchen in the drawer with the spatulas."

Olivia nodded. "Thank you, Walter."

Olivia shed her jacket in the entryway and kicked her shoes off by the door. She crossed the house to the narrow stairs behind the kitchen, skirting around a guitar that was leaning against the counter. The eclectic clutter of the Bishops' home never ceased to amaze her. She padded down the stairs to the basement, quiet in her bare feet.

The creature was hanging on the edge of the tank, three long arms snaked out of the aquarium, the rest dangling in the water. One of the arms held a dry erase pen and it was making marks on the board that was hanging near the tank.

Not marks, she realized. Numbers. It was writing numbers.

Peter and the creature both turned at her gasp of surprise.

The creature made a chattering noise and put its marker back on the shelf under the whiteboard.

Peter glanced at the creature. "Busted."

Olivia hugged her arms around herself and shivered a little in the chill of the basement. She swallowed hard in shock. "Is it... I mean...?"

The creature let itself slip back into the water, sank along the front pane of the aquarium until it rested on the sandy bottom of the tank. Its skin paled to the color of the sand and it turned so it was looking at her.

"Yeah, it's pretty smart. Really smart." He walked towards her but stopped a few feet away.

Her eyes darted to Peter's, then she edged closer to the tank. The creature kept one weird eye turned towards her. "How smart?"

"It's good at math. Not so good with words. It draws pictures, though, sort of. It has decent spatial awareness, but its stereognossis is a little iffy." At her frown he clarified, "It has a hard time figuring out what something is if it's just touching it. It has to be able to see it, too."

Peter crossed to the tank and held his hand near the surface of the water. Olivia followed and watched the creature dart up to Peter's hand. It coiled one tentacle around his wrist.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Peter scratched its... body? Mantle? She wasn't sure. "I was worried that Walter would want to find out exactly how intelligent it was - that he'd want to do tests on it or something. He lost interest in it because that thing with the giant rabbits happened. I didn't want him deciding to take a second look." The creature pulled itself up by the edge of the aquarium, peering at her over the edge of the tank. "Besides, it secretes a drug, and I sure as hell don't want Walter to know about that."

She pulled her eyes off the creature and looked at Peter. "Drug?"

"It's not very strong. Mild entactogenic effect."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's like Ecstasy."

Her eyebrows arched higher. "You're keeping a drug-producing octopus in your basement."

Peter grinned. "Technically it's not an octopus. Physiologically it's closer to a cuttlefish, although it's larger than cuttlefish should be. It's neurologically more sophisticated that any naturally occurring cephalopod."

"Cuttlefish."

"Yeah, it's got a bony structure in it's mantle. An octopus doesn't have that."

"Right."

He shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Anyway... yeah."

The creature stretched three tentacles out of the water, reaching for Peter. It dripped water onto the concrete floor.

"Well, it seems to like you."

"Yeah, it's... friendly." Peter stroked his fingers between its eyes, then gently pushed it back into the tank. When it tried to climb out again he said, "No, stop that. Stay there."

"It understands you? I thought you said it didn't do well with words."

"I think it's more of the tone of my voice than anything." He switched off the light on the desk and took her hand, leading her towards the stairs.

"Peter...?"

"Come on, it's freezing down here and it knows how to turn on the TV if it gets bored."

*****

She waited until the next day to voice the questions that had been piling up. Truthfully, Peter had been reasonably distracting last night. They were tucked into a booth towards the back of a restaurant not far from campus, their voices muted by the chatter of the lunchtime crowd.

"Exactly how smart is it?" Her stomach twisted at the thought of how the creature had been found - engineered to sabotage submarines and deep-sea oil platforms, it had been abandoned on a cold steel table in the lab they'd raided, clearly destined for dissection. Peter had been the one to realize it was alive and get it back into water.

He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "It sort of depends on how you're framing the question. It can't read, but it's working extremely complex equations and it's pretty good at recognizing simple images. It's also really good at geometric puzzles. It likes sudoku. You'd like it if you got to know it. It's got a wicked sense of humor."

"Is it sentient?"

"Yes. I mean, as far as I can tell. I haven't done testing on it or anything. That was sort of the point of not telling anyone about it. There are some pretty big communication barriers - it doesn't really think like we do, but I do have a bit of experience communicating with highly intelligent beings that have unusual thought processes."

She smiled a little at that.

"It seems to have a complex communication system that's based at least in part on the color patterns it exhibits, but I'm pretty sure it's more than that. If it's like the cephalopods it was engineered from, then it has chemical receptors similar to taste and smell that it uses for communication, too."

"Like underwater pheromones?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sort of."

She chased a cherry tomato around her salad with her fork before asking, "Does it have a name?"

"I don't think so, at least not the way we understand names. It's probably got some unique pigment pattern or chemical signature, but we're not connecting when I try to explain the concept of names." He shrugged a little. "It doesn't seem like I should give it a name, though, just in case it does have one and I just can't figure it out."

"Why do you call it 'it'?

"I don't know what gender it is. It's not one of the things that it's terribly concerned about so I haven't been able to get it to tell me. I'm not even sure if it has one, really. And it was so heavily modified that I'm not even sure what sex it is. Hell, it might be asexual." He sighed and pushed his plate away from him. "I know it's demeaning, but I'm not sure how else to refer to it. I don't think I should just pick a gender for it and maybe be wrong."

She placed her fork carefully on the edge of the bowl. "Peter, if it is so intelligent, shouldn't it be somewhere other than your basement?"

His brow creased. "Oh, sure, we can take it back to the lab and introduce it to Walter."

"Okay, the lab probably isn't the best place for it, but don't you think that eventually he'll go into the basement?"

"Olivia, he still won't walk down the east hallway in the Kresge building because of something that happened in the '70's, so, no, I'm not really worried about him going into the basement." He snatched the bill off the table before she could reach it and fished his wallet out of his back pocket. He stared at the table and shrugged. "Besides, I sort of like it."

She tilted her head and frowned.

*****

He was sitting at the desk when she descended the stairs. For days she'd been waiting for him to decide he was ready to talk about whatever was bothering him, but her stomach had been aching since he'd texted her that they needed to talk. Before that, if she was being honest with herself – the vague sense of worry had been growing for weeks.

She crossed the room slowly, watching the tense lines of his shoulders, the way his jaw clenched occasionally.

Without looking up he said, "I should have told you sooner." He glanced at the tank, then stood and faced her.

Olivia picked nervously at her cuticles and asked, softly, "Peter?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to figure out how to phrase this so that you don't shoot me."

"Please don't tell me you've turned into Walter and are actually getting high off of it."

"That's, uh, not it, exactly."

She arched an eyebrow at him.

"It gets bored, I think. Um. Lonely, maybe. And it likes people. A lot."

The creature pulled Peter's arm closer to it, petting his bare forearm with its tentacles. Olivia frowned and tried to work out what Peter wasn't saying. The tip of one tentacle dragged slowly over the inside of Peter's wrist, leaving a streak of wetness behind that looked thicker than water. The way it touched him was intimate, possessive. Peter was watching her from hooded eyes that were dark even for the low light of the room. She blinked at the flush that was coloring his cheeks. She'd always been good at making connections but her mind was balking here.

"Peter?"

"I should have told you."

"Told me what?"

"It... we're... "

She shook her head and stared at him.

"Olivia, you've got to understand that it knows what its doing."

"You're... fucking it?"

"Well, technically it's fucking me."

"Oh my god."

"It's at least as smart as I am."

"It's an animal."

Anger cut through the pleading expression on his face. "It isn't."

"That's..." She shook her head. "Christ, Peter."

Peter spread his hands in a placating way and the creature mimicked him with four of it's arms. "You're making too much out of this."

"You're fucking a squid!"

The creature hissed and dropped back into the tank, skin mottled red and purple.

"It's my friend, Olivia." Peter sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "Look, I know this is aberrant and disgusting and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep it from you, either. I didn't mean for this to happen at all."

The creature huddled against the glass as close as it could get to Peter. Its skin was dull and dark.

Peter reached for her, and it was instinct more than anything that brought her hands up between them, the engrained habit of putting a barrier between her body and things that were hurting her. She backed up a few steps for good measure.

"'Livia..."

"I'm sorry, Peter, I just. I need some time with this, okay?"

She fled before he could answer.

*****

She avoided him for the weekend and halfway into the week, ignoring curious looks from Astrid and inappropriate questions from Walter. She considered, briefly, avoiding him forever, but the need for answers got the better of her. Her mind kept straying to thoughts of Peter and the creature that left her questioning her own judgement. Now that she had some distance from her initial surprise, the feeling of disgust faded, leaving curiosity in its place.

She waited until Astrid took Walter to the cafeteria before she joined Peter in the back office.

"Hi."

His expression was wary, but after a moment something like relief flitted across his face. "Hey."

She dropped into the chair across from him. Now that she was here, she couldn't figure out what to say, all the carefully planned questions forgotten. She nudged a stack of papers with one fingers, straightening it and shook her head. "How did you even...?"

"It sort of jumped me at the lab one night. Scared the crap out of me, at first. I thought it was trying to kill me. But, um, it wasn't."

"It got out on its own?"

"Yeah, it's really good at opening latches. I don't think I could keep it confined if I had to."

"So, it's actually smarter than you?" A little smile tugged at her lips, at the thought of Peter struggling to stay one step ahead of the creature's attempts to escape.

He slanted a sly grin towards her. The sight of his smile settled her nerves and she relaxed a little in the chair.

"Peter, I'm trying not to be judgmental about this, because I do trust you, but..." She trailed off and stared at the scratched surface of the desk. "This is sort of hard for me to wrap my head around." She darted her eyes up to his before looking back down. "Is it the drug or the sex?" She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer, to know what was more important to him than their relationship.

His jaw clenched and he thought for a moment. "Both, I guess. If you're asking if the drug is responsible for the sex, then no. I'm not addicted or incapacitated."

She watched him without saying anything, uncertain if she trusted his judgment on that. It must have shown.

"Olivia, I've got a pretty good handle on determining dependencies on chemical substances. I'm not Walter."

She nodded. "Alright. Then you were aware that you were cheating on me and chose to do it anyway?"

His head snapped up and he started shaking his head.

"Peter you want me to believe that this thing is intelligent and aware and not influencing your actions, yet somehow not come to the conclusion that you're cheating?"

"I... I guess I was just choosing to ignore that."

"Hoping you wouldn't get caught?"

He dropped his head and stared at the table, looking sick. "I think that was part of it. It just... it almost didn't even seem real. I'm sorry, Olivia. I didn't mean to hurt you. It's just so lonely. So alone. That jackass scientist made it, so it can't even go back to the ocean because it doesn't belong there. It doesn't belong anywhere." The sympathy that twisted through her caught Olivia off guard.

"If I asked you to stop... " She stared at the desk and tried to come up with the right words. "Would you stop if I asked you to?"

He nodded miserably. "I don't think I could explain to it why, but if that's what you want me to do I will." He swallowed hard and she watched the play of muscle in his arms as he clenched his hands. "I'll find somewhere else for it to live, but you have to give me time to find somewhere it'll be safe."

"You'd try to explain?"

"I don't want to hurt it, either."

"How do you know you're not hurting it now?"

"I don't force it to do anything with me."

"Yeah, but..."

"I'm not taking advantage of it anymore that it is of me."

"How do you know that?"

The door to the lab banged open and she could head Walter explaining how tapioca was made.

"Olivia, let me show it to you. Introduce you. Please, give me a chance."

*****

It was days before things quieted down again. Olivia had never been so thankful for marauding hallucinogenic rat.

Olivia descended the stairs slowly and stood at the bottom with her arms crossed over her chest. She looked at the tank, finding the creature draped over the top of one of the rocks. She got the distinct impression that it was glaring at her. Peter brushed by her and stopped halfway across the room.

"So, um. I'm not really sure how to do this."

Olivia watched the creature slide off the rock and swim across the tank. Its skin changed when it reached the sand, lightening to match the color. It hovered in the water at the front of the glass. She stepped forward to get a better look and glared at Peter when he smiled. When she moved, tiny blue stripes scattered across its skin.

Its eyes were pale blue, striking against the cream of its skin, faintly iridescent in the low light of the room. The wavy, inky-black pupil gave it an alien look. It brought one tentacle up against the glass and waved.

"I taught it that. Waving. It's sort of shy, though, that's why it didn't do it before. It wasn't sure it could trust you."

Olivia raised her hand and waved back.

It looped away from the front of the tank and the stripes widened over its back, blending into a solid color on its tentacles.

"What's it doing?"

"Showing off."

The spots changed to stripes that chased each other over its skin. The color took on a reddish hue. It darted back to the front of the tank and hauled itself up on the edge, sloshing water out over her and Peter.

"Hey! We talked about that." Peter frowned at it, and the creature shook, its pattern shifting into multicolor waves.

Olivia shook water off her hands and frowned at her wet clothing. "It's laughing." Olivia tilted her head at it. "Isn't it?"

Peter grinned. "Yeah. Sort of. It mimics what I do to communicate. It's easier than me trying to figure out how to change my skin pigment like that."

It dropped back into the water and swam over to the side nearest the whiteboard.

"Fine, Peter, I'll accept that it's clever, but it's not a person."

A stream of water hit the side of her face; she gasped at the cold and whirled to face the aquarium. It was hanging on the edge of the tank near the whiteboard, making a chuffing noise that sounded like laughter. There was a shaky happy face drawn on the board and something else. She squinted at it, then turned to glare at Peter.

"You taught it to do that."

He was laughing. "I did _not_ teach it to draw dicks. It came up with that on its own."

She brushed water off her neck and glared down at her clothing. She looked up at the creature, met its eyes as best she could given that they weren't front facing and she really could only see one of them at a time and said, "That wasn't necessary."

It dropped its arms and its color darkened. Tiny green spots broke out over its skin.

"That means its sorry." Peter's voice was soft. "At least I think it's as close as it gets to feeling sorry. The little spots like that. It does that when it doesn't understand what I wanted it to do and it did something else. Almost like embarrassment."

She stepped closer to the tank and watched it. The spots intensified, then became stripes that ran the length of its body. "I don't know if I can get used to this. If I can be okay with it." She wasn't really sure who she was talking to. The creatures stripes faded, skin going dull brown. "It'll take some time."

It dropped back into the tank and circled away towards the front glass. Dark blue spots rippled over its skin. Olivia closed the distance to the tank and rested one hand against the cold sheet of acrylic. The next time it circled towards her, it lingered, drifting towards her. It rested one tentacle on the glass, even with her hand.

*****

They spent more time downstairs. Once she got over the unease she felt at the creature's presence, she actually liked the room.

They were lounging on the futon, watching movies.

"It's like a college apartment."

"Weird roommate and all."

Olivia watched the creature rearranging rocks again. It ignored her and Peter completely. Olivia tucked herself closer to Peter's side and sighed. "Missed you. I'm sorry I've been letting this bother me so much."

Peter pressed his lips to her temple. "Why are you apologizing?"

She opened her mouth to respond, then thought about it. "I'm doing it again. Taking the blame for things that I don't have any control over."

"Not everything is your fault, and this certainly isn't."

She sighed again and looked over at the tank where the creature was inspecting the plants that Peter had added to the aquarium. Its tentacles feathered delicately over the leaves. The tentacles changed from pale blue to green where they touched the plant. The green color slowly crept over its skin, swirling in patterns that looked like leaves.

"That's pretty amazing."

Peter hummed in agreement and kissed her again, lips drifting towards her ear. She tilted her head, giving him better access, enjoying the heat of his lips on her skin while watching the aquarium.

The creature drifted towards the front of the tank, the leaf-pattern on its skin morphing into stripes. She'd gotten better at determining its moods in the last week, figuring out what it was trying to tell them with the patterns it displayed. Stripes were interest. Curiosity. The stripes rippled, going from straight to wavy as the emotion intensified. She clenched her eyes shut at the thought that it was arousal.

Peter nuzzled her face, then pulled back. "'Livia?"

She turned away from the tank and kissed him, sliding her lips against his and wove her fingers through his hair to pull him close. They stayed like that for long minutes, turned towards each other on the futon until she came to a decision and straddled his lap. He smiled up at her, stroking his fingers over her thighs before loosely cupping her hips.

The stubble pricked at her lips when she trailed them along his jaw, breathing against his skin. His fingers tightened slightly but other than that he was motionless under her. His lips twitched with a little smile when she ghosted a kiss over his lips. When she pressed hard against his mouth, his fingers tightened, pulling her down against him.

His tongue pushed against hers, sliding wetly into her mouth. There was a splashing sound behind her.

She twisted, looking over her shoulder at the aquarium. The creature was pressed right up to the glass at the top of the tank, blue waves rippling in dizzying waves over its skin. It was watching them, she thought, and heat twisted through her.

When she turned back, Peter was grinning up at her.

She frowned at him. "Shush."

"I didn't say anything."

"Well, don't. I'm not quite there yet."

*****

Olivia waved as she approached the tank, and the creature waved back at her.

"Hi."

It looped away from her, then circled back to the front of the tank, flattening its tentacles along the glass like a hand. When Olivia placed her hand over it, the creature flushed bright green.

"Pretty," she murmured. She sighed and let her hand drop.

"I'm not really sure what I'm doing here. I guess I wanted to... talk to you when Peter wasn't around."

It pushed off of the bottom of the tank and drifted to the surface.

Olivia pointed at the white board. Half of the surface was covered with equations, partially in Peter's handwriting, but also in a shaky script that was the creature's. "Is that something you're trying to solve?"

It darted towards the board and pointed at on of the sets of numbers and symbols then squeaked. It tapped the board.

"I was never very good with differential equations." Olivia touched one of the lines that was in Peter's writing. "Has Peter been helping you?"

It chattered at her, then tapped the end of the marker on the board twice.

"That's yes?"

It tapped twice again.

Olivia narrowed her eyes. "You understand words better than Peter said you did."

It raised the marker again, then hesitated. Little green spots appeared on the pale skin around its eyes.

"You didn't understand that?"

It tapped once on the board, very softly.

"I'm just trying to figure out if you're actually intelligent or if Peter's delusional, but I don't have any idea of how to do that. You're not understanding any of this, are you."

The creature drew a sad face on the board, then put the marker back on the tray and sank into the water.

It swam to the opposite side of the tank and Olivia followed. It set three little rocks on the larger one, then looked at her. She thought it was waiting for something. After a moment, it gestured to the rocks, then back to her.

"Um." She looked closer at the rocks. "Do the rocks mean something? The placement maybe."

It swam back to the board and drew three wavy lines inside a square.

She frowned. "I don't understand."

It swam back to the rocks, picking the three smaller ones up and carrying them close to the front of the tank. It set them close together, then looked at her. It pushed one right up against the glass in front of her. The second it pushed under the sand. It held the third close to its body.

"Those are your rocks?"

It picked the rock closest to the glass up and tapped once, sharply.

"Alright. Not your rocks. The rocks mean something."

Two taps.

Olivia looked at the rocks, the placement of them. "Peter's not here. We're... rocks? We're the rocks. The three of us."

It tapped twice and the tips of it's tentacles turned bright blue. Olivia smiled. The creature dug the Peter-rock out of the sand, gathered all three rocks and held them in its tentacles.

Together.

"You think we should be together."

It tapped twice again, then swam up to the edge of the tank, flushing bright blue all over it's body. It sloshed water out when it reached the edge and stretched three tentacles out towards her.

Olivia laughed and let it hold her hand, shivering a little as her skin tingled from the slime.

*****

Olivia clattered down the stairs to the basement and came to rest standing behind Peter's chair at the desk. Peter and the creature were playing a game involving equations and it was writing on the whiteboard with three markers at the same time. She watched the creature out of the corner of her eye and tried very hard to not think about the possibilities that those flexible arms presented. Her resolve was wavering, curiosity winning out. After a while she realized that Peter was watching her.

He narrowed his eyes and gave her a lazy smile that sparked heat in her belly.

She shook her head sharply. "No."

The smile broke into a grin and his eyes were amused. "I didn't even ask anything."

"You don't have to ask. I'm not..." She waved her hand to indicate the aquarium. The creature waved back at her, still holding the purple marker.

"You're not even remotely curious?"

She shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes on the creature. Not saying anything seemed safer than trying to bluff at this point. It put its marker away and sank into the water.

"You can just watch."

Her eyes widened, then narrowed at him, because of course he would have noticed something like that. Peter stood and stepped behind her, resting the fingers of one hand on the curve of her hip. His voice was low, breath hot against her ear.

"I promise we'll put on a good show."

She watched the creature drift from one side of the tank to the other, waves of color pulsing slowly over its skin. Peter splayed his hand over her stomach, pulled her back against him. The creature watched them, keeping one eye turned towards them as it looped around in the water. She leaned into Peter's warmth.

"How did you talk me into this again?"

"I'm very persuasive."

On the next loop it hoisted itself up on the edge of the tank, arms dangling in the air, dripping all over the floor. It reached one arm out towards Olivia and she touched her finger to the tip of its tentacle. Her skin tingled a little and she rubbed her finger against her thumb.

He dropped his eyes to her fingers where she was rubbing them together, spreading the slime around a little. "The chemical it secretes is in its slime. It can be absorbed through your skin, but not very fast. It gets into your system much quicker through a mucous membrane." He gave her an appraising look. "You've got a pretty high tolerance to psychotropic chemicals at this point anyway."

Peter reached up and stroked the creature's head, scratching between its luminous eyes. It leaned farther out of the tank, rubbing against Peter's face. A slender tentacle curled around the back of Peter's neck, and Olivia frowned at the rush of jealously that followed. Peter was watching her, forehead creased with worry. She stepped closer and it chattered at her, reaching out to her again with one tentacle.

The tentacle thinned out and coiled around her finger, squeezing gently. The slime warmed her finger where it touched her skin. The tip of the tentacle stroked the palm of her hand and she shuddered. She pulled back and it let go of her, retreating to the edge of the tank. Peter gave it one more scratch, pushing it gently back into the water before crossing to the futon and laying the frame flat.

He hesitated a moment before spreading the sheet over the mattress. "It's waterproof," he explained. He put a stack of towels on the corner of the mattress, tossed a few pillows onto the mattress.

She nodded and sat on the edge of it. The creature was watching from the tank, pressed against the glass. Peter sat beside her and brushed her hair back from her face, cupping her cheek gently.

"If you want us to stop, we will. No questions, no hard feelings. Just tell us to stop and it's over."

She nodded again, not quite trusting her voice. Her eyes fluttered shut when he kissed her.

Peter pulled his shirt off and tossed it towards the desk before lifting the creature off the edge of the tank.

It looked smaller out of the aquarium, deflated without the support of the water. She frowned.

"It's okay for it to be like this?"

"It can't stay out indefinitely, but it's okay for a while. It'll let us know when it needs to get back in the water." He laughed a little. "When it needs to go back in, it touches my nose. It figured that out on its own. It made the connection between me breathing and it needing to go back in the water. It doesn't breathe like we do - it's got gills, but it can still absorb oxygen inefficiently when it's out of water."

The creature looped its arms around him, molding itself to his chest. Cuddling, she thought. It looked like it was cuddling him and she smiled a little. Olivia stretched out on her side facing them.

Peter settled back on his heels, then shifted a little as the creature climbed over him. "So. Like this? Can you see?"

Olivia curled around the pillow and nodded. Peter's cheeks were flushed, and she laughed softly. "You're blushing?"

The blush deepened. "No." The creature chattered and shook. It settled itself on Peter's shoulder, tentacles draping over him, coiled around his arms for balance. Peter's skin glistened where the creature touched him. The tip of one arm was stroking through the dark hair below his navel. Olivia squirmed, heat pooling low in her stomach at the sight of the pale, slick arms draped over his body.

Two of the tentacles moved over his chest, stroking the planes of muscle, brushing over his nipples.

A tentacle coiled around his neck, and Olivia pushed herself up in alarm. Peter just smiled and lapped at the end of the tentacle when it neared his mouth. Olivia stayed on her knees and watched him suck the flexible tip into his mouth, watched his eyes flutter shut as it wiggled deeper between his lips. A thin line of slime dripped down his chin, and she thought about what he said earlier.

"That's how the drug gets in your system."

He nodded and pulled his mouth away from the tentacle. "Sort of tastes like crap, but you get used to it."

His eyes were dark and glassy. She wondered if that was how she looked when she was in her underwear in the lab, high as a kite. She inched closer and ran a finger over the creature's skin, gathering slickness before licking it off.

It was bitter and sharp, like citrus rind, warming her lips, her whole mouth. The warmth spread when she swallowed. She was getting to be a bit of a connoisseur when it came to mind-altering chemicals, she wasn't in Walter's league yet, but she'd experienced her share of highs. This was gentle, more of a suggestion than anything else.

Peter raised his eyebrows at her, delighted. The creature chattered and extended a dripping arm towards her.

She licked the tip delicately, keeping eye contact with Peter. The creature moved its tentacle back to his mouth and he sucked it in. She could see his throat moving as he swallowed. Olivia rocked back on her heels.

The creature snaked one tentacle down over Peter's stomach and pushed against the fabric of his jeans. Peter fumbled with the buttons, then shoved them down his thighs, nearly overbalancing with the weight of the creature as he kicked them away. The creature flung a few tentacles out in the air for balance. Olivia smothered a giggle against her hand.

"Glad we amuse you."

Olivia grinned, then sucked in a sharp breath when the creature slid a tentacle down Peter's stomach to loop around the base of his flushed cock. It spiraled around him, coating his cock with glistening slime. Olivia licked her lips and thought about how the slime made her mouth tingle, shuddered when Peter moaned around the tentacle that had returned to his mouth. When the coils of the tentacle circled him completely, the creature tightened its grip, squelching wetly against Peter's cock. Peter panted around the tentacle in his mouth.

The movement of the tentacle on Peter's cock was teasing, Olivia thought. It clenched slowly, dragging upwards towards the tip before stroking back down. Between strokes, the end of the tentacle brushed over the head of Peter's cock, mixing it's slickness with the precome that was already leaking out. Olivia flicked her eyes back up to Peter's face, up to the creature's eyes, where its weird, inky pupils were blown wide.

She sucked in a breath at the oh-so-human response.

"It likes this."

"Yrmf." Peter reached up and pulled the tentacle out of his mouth. "Yeah. Pheromones or something," he panted.

Two more tentacles slid down, one on either side of his cock, slipping down to coil under his balls. He hissed in pleasure and tilted his head back, eyes clenching shut, cock twitching hard in the creature's grip. The tentacles that slid under him pulsed, and Peter shuddered and moaned.

The angle wasn't the best, and she crawled closer. She touched Peter's shoulder. "Hands and knees."

He groaned and dropped forward, and the creature shifted onto his back. Olivia ran her fingers over its skin, petting it then licking the slime from her fingers. It rearranged itself, moving its tentacles aside, giving her a clear view that made her moan.

Peter was stretched open around two arms, slickness dripping from them where they entered him. The slick spilled down over another arm that circled the base of his balls, then around his cock. She could see the rhythmic contraction that rippled through it, Peter's hips jumping a little with each wave. Wetness dripped from the tip of Peter's cock. Olivia touched the tight ring of skin, tracing her finger where the creature entered Peter.

She leaned forward and licked where her finger had been.

"Oh, fuck, Olivia, Jesus." Peter's voice was ragged, wrecked.

The creature snaked one arm over her shoulder, holding her close to Peter. She licked harder at them, pressing her tongue into the hard muscle of the tentacle, whimpering at the feeling of it rippling under her tongue. She curled her fingers over his cock, over the tentacles, stroking her hand over the slick coils. Peter was rocking. She slid her fingers over the slippery head of his cock, rubbing at the underside with her thumb. The heat of his come was shocking when it hit her fingers.

Peter sprawled, panting. The creature crawled over to her and curled up in her lap. The coldness of its body contrasted with the heat that bloomed on her skin where the slime soaked through her clothing. She stroked her fingers over its head, down its mantle, just enjoying the feel of the wet velvet skin. It was vibrating rhythmically, just barely, and after a moment she frowned down at it.

"You're purring?"

The vibrations increased, and it chattered softly. A tentacle slithered up her body, then tapped her nose. She pushed herself off of the mattress, and the creature slipped awkwardly in her arms until it circled her neck with three arms. It was heavier than it looked. It splashed into the tank and swam a lazy circle around the front of the glass. The rush of the drug was fading and she shivered.

"Hey."

She turned towards the mattress where Peter was propped up on his elbows, watching her closely. He reached over the side of the futon and grabbed a couple towels, holding one out to her. She dried her hands on it, and frowned at her damp, slimy clothing. She stripped herself down, letting her clothes drop wetly over the side of the futon, then tucked herself against Peter's side.

"You okay?"

She nodded. After a moment she shifted so her eyes were level with his. "I feel sort of numb."

Peter tucked her hair behind one ear. "The euphoric effects don't last very long. The chemical has an exceptionally short lifecycle. Fortunately the crash doesn't last very long either."

There was a splashing noise behind them. Olivia cuddled closer to Peter, sighing as the warmth of his body bled over to her. She nuzzled his chest. When she turned her head, she could see three tentacles holding the edge of the mattress, one iridescent eye peering over the edge. She smiled and stretched her arm out towards it. It crawled across the bed, curling a few of its arms under itself like legs. She flinched away at the first cold touch of it on her skin, then relaxed at the chemical warmth. She ran a hand over the silky skin, watched faint swirls of color spread in the wake of her fingers. Peter rubbed a spot between its eyes, and it wiggled closer, sprawling across both of them.

The tip of one tentacle stroked her face, just at the corner of her mouth. It stroked lightly across her lips, leaving them slick before she darted the tip of her tongue out to touch it. It flicked against her tongue, slipping a little deeper into her mouth with each stroke. Olivia let her eyes flutter shut as the slickness coated her tongue and warmed her mouth. The first swallow spread the warmth through her body and the numb haze began to recede. She hummed and wiggled against Peter when the tentacle stroked the roof of her mouth. She felt warm and content with the fresh rush of the chemical in her system.

Peter licked at her lips, licked at the tentacle. He kissed his way to her ear and whispered, "It still stands - you can stop any time you want."

Her stomach clenched nervously as the creature shifted so that one of its eyes was level with hers. It hummed softly and stroked her cheek.

"Here, lay back." Peter shifted her onto her back and rolled to his side next to her, pillowed her head on his arm. The full weight of the creature shifted on to her, pleasantly heavy and she relaxed under it.

Its tentacles slid their way over her face and neck, seeking spots that made her sigh and gasp. It stroked over her, mapping the curves of her breasts, the planes of her ribs. Peter reached over and squeezed her nipple and she groaned. The tip thinned even more and coiled around her nipple. The entire arm contracted, the spiral of it tightening on her breast, then relaxed in a gentle rhythm.

She shuddered, then squirmed when it hit ticklish spots on her sides. It drew the tentacles back and flashed green with curiosity.

"Ticklish," she said, guiding the tentacles away from her sides. Peter stroked a path down her stomach and it followed his lead.

The tentacles pushed through the curls on her mound, slicking them with slime. It stroked the skin of her hips, tracing the crease where thigh joined body. She spread her legs wider, canting her hips upwards. Peter rubbed his fingers over her, guiding the creatures tentacles.

The creature slid its tentacles over her folds, lightly at first, then with more pressure as it explored. She gasped when it thinned to a slender point against the hood of her clit, pushing the soft skin back. The burn of the slime made her throb, and the slippery pressure of the tentacle was incredible. Her skin tingled under its touch, little flames of pleasure that licked over her until she was writhing on the mattress. The tip thickened, finger-like, and rubbed steady circles around her, another tentacle joining it to stroke along the top of her hood, pressing into the little ridge of nerves beneath. She was close, right at the crest of pleasure when another tentacle flicked at her entrance, then plunged inside. She cried out as she came, clutching at the sheets, at Peter's arm.

Peter rubbed gentle circles on her stomach until she blinked her eyes open. She laughed, breathless and shaky. "Wow."

Peter grinned and leaned over her, brushing his lips over hers. She petted the creature's slick body, its wet-velvet skin.

She turned her face and nuzzled the tentacle that was petting her neck, licked slickness from her lips. The tentacles were still moving gently against her, matching the intensity of Peter's touch. His fingers drifted lower, entering her along with the tentacle, slowly building speed as they fucked her together.

She lifted her hips, arching off the mattress, wanting more. Peter shifted beside her, sliding a hand up the back of her thigh, gentle pressure to roll her hips up. She relaxed into him, letting him hold her open and exposed.

Their combined efforts to fuck her senseless slowed, and one tentacle flicked against the tight ring of muscle and crinkled skin. She relaxed into its touch, a low whine rising from her throat as she opened under its gentle touch, skin tingling under the slime.

The tentacle circling her slipped in. The tip was thinned out, no thicker than a finger, and with the slickness, it entered her easily. It swirled a bit, rubbing against the other tentacle through the thin membrane that separated them before sliding nearly all the way out. When it pushed back in, it went a little deeper, flared a little thicker, each stroke filling her more and more. She was moaning continually now, sound slipping out around the tentacle that filled her mouth, slime and saliva coating her chin, her neck. She was overwhelmed, unable to focus on any one point of pleasure. Her orgasm washed over her in waves.

She was vaguely aware of Peter returning the creature to its tank, returning to the futon to wrap her in warm, dry towels. The fabric felt rough against her skin. When she was mostly dry, she curled against Peter's side and watched the creature loop back and forth. She rested against him, eyes slipping closed, until he shifted and kissed her forehead.

"Let's go to bed."

Olivia grumbled in protest, not wanting to move, but she let Peter pull her upright and wrap a blanket around her. While he stripped the wet sheet from the futon, Olivia drifted over to the aquarium. The creature rubbed against the glass near her face, bright blue swirls dancing over its skin. Peter wrapped his arms around her waist.

"That was okay?"

She hummed softly. "Yeah."

*****

Olivia stretched out on the futon, waiting for Peter to come back with the popcorn. From the tank, the creature clicked at her and stretched two tentacles out of the water. Olivia looked up and chuckled.

"Greedy."

The clicking increased in pitch and Olivia tossed a frozen shrimp towards it. It snatched it out of the air and sank back into the water. Peter trotted down the stairs and sat the bowl of popcorn on her lap. He glanced at the tank while he was putting the movie in the DVD player.

"You'll like this one. _Creature from the Black Lagoon_."

Olivia rolled her eyes and the creature - their creature - paused while munching on the frozen shrimp, fixing Peter with a look of disdain.

"Jeez. No sense of humor, either of you."

Peter settled by Olivia and propped his feet up on the coffee. They'd tried rearranging the room so the creature could see the screen easily from the tank, but it wasn't really interested in the picture. It listened, though, and they'd put a set of speakers against the glass at one end. It swam that direction, taking a detour to the surface to beg for another shrimp.

"Buying its love with frozen snacks."

Olivia threw another shrimp to it and smirked. "I"m pretty sure it loved me before I thought of the shrimp."

The creature clicked happily and tapped the shrimp against the glass twice before sprawling on one of the rocks to eat its snack.


End file.
